now, earlier this week president obama issued a very stern warning to assad that if, in fact, he used chemical weapons on his own people, he would be held accountable. now we're going to continue to follow the breaking developments out of the region, but first tonight, urgent developments on the fiscal cliff show down. tim guy ne geithner announced of of the white house that we would, quote, absolutely go over the fiscal cliff which would trigger tax cuts and spending increases unless taxes increase on the top two percent of wage earnings. >> i want you you to understand when it comes to raising taxes on the wealthy. if republicans do not agree to that, is the administration prepared to go over the fiscal cliff? >> oh, absolutely. there's no prospect to an agreement that doesn't involve those rates going up on the top 2% of the wealthy. >> all right. it appears the very definition of the american dream is now being rewritten by president barack obama. now, today our commander-in-chief publicly said he's not going to play games with the fiscal cliff, but that is just not reality. right